Fracking firms should a hefty amount to compensate for climate change

A Cambridge University study says shale gas companies should pay for the harm they will cause to the environment. Just how much are they saying the fracking firms should pay? Cambridge is saying frackers, like the ones in Britain, should be paying £6bn a year in taxes by the middle of the 2020s. This should compensate for all the damage that they will cause to the environment. 

A fracking site. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Shale gas will contribute to climate change in two ways, one is from carbon dioxide emissions when gas is burned, and the other is the emissions underground from methane leaks that leak into the atmosphere during extraction. 

Chris Hope, an advisor and reader in policy modeling at the Judge Buisness School in Cambridge say that many of these sources, like shale gas, will not be worth pursuing because once these taxes are factored in, there are cheaper options with less emissions.